In the life of most wells the reservoir pressure decreases over time resulting in the failure of the well to produce fluids utilizing the formation pressure solely. As the formation pressure decreases, the well tends to fill up with liquids, such as oil and water, which inhibits the flow of gas into the wellbore and may prevent the production of liquids. It is common to remove this accumulation of liquid by artificial lift systems such as plunger lift, gas lift, pump lifting and surfactant lift wherein the liquid column is blown out of the well utilizing the reaction between surfactants and the liquid.
Common to these artificial lift systems is the necessity to control the production rate of the well to achieve economical production and increase profitability. It is common for the production cycle of a particular lift system to be estimated based on known well characteristics and then adjusted over time through trial and error. Prior art systems have been utilized to automate the control system such that incremental changes are automatically implemented in the production cycle until the lift system fails, and then the production cycle is readjusted to a point before failure. A need still exists for a method and system for optimizing an artificial lift system in real-time.